• The project will be rolled out on a specific bus route in Malaga, the first project of this kind in Spain on an urban public transport system.

• The aim is to double the range of electric buses without affecting operating times

Endesa and a consortium of four other companies and three research bodies have today rolled out Project Victoria, an initiative to develop the first dynamic inductive charging system for a bus lane in Spain whereby electric buses will be charged wirelessly while on the move. With a budget of EUR 3,7 million, Project Victoria will run for 21 months.

The project was officially presented at Malaga Town Hall with the city’s Mayor, Francisco de la Torre, Andrea Brentan, CEO of Endesa, and Rafael Márquez, Director General of the Andalusian Energy Agency in attendance. Also present were representatives from the consortium’s other companies: José Luis Calvo, Chairman of Isotrol; Antonio Aguera, Manager of Mansel; Jorge Alberto Gámiz, General Manager of Conacon; and Miguel Ruíz, Manager of Empresa Malagueña de Transportes. The project will be trialled on an electric bus which operates on the city’s number 16 bus route, making Malaga the first Spanish city to incorporate sustainable mobility into its urban public transport system. One of the city’s e-buses will be adapted with triple charging technology whereby it can be charged by the conventional method when parked at the bus depot at night (using charging points), it can also be partially charged at a static inductive or wireless charging station as well as when travelling along a bus lane equipped with a dynamic inductive (wireless) charging system. The last two modes will be carried out using special devices fitted along the bus route. The number 16 route crosses the city parallel to the coastline and also runs through Smartcity Málaga which integrates smart technologies. The e-bus will be able to cover the entire 5-kilometre route solely using this technology which will also make this kind of transport more profitable. The system will be ready at the end of 2014.

Partial recharging increases the range of an e-bus compared to those buses which are only charged at the depot at the end of the day. This substantially improves the vehicle’s profitability and efficiency, the aim being to double the range of electric buses without affecting operating times. Inductive technology also helps reduce the volume and weight of batteries, significantly reducing their cost.

This new triple charging system is entirely innovative on a worldwide level as well as being the first real wireless charging experiment in Spain, a sector Endesa is leading.

The consortium

The Victoria consortium comprises five partners (Endesa, which heads up the project, Isotrol, Mansel, Conacon and Empresa Malagueña de Transportes), with the collaboration of two SMEs (MC2 and Omeca) and three research bodies (the CIRCE Foundation, Malaga University and AICIA, the Andalusian Association for Research & Industrial Cooperation).

The consortium will also have an Advisory Board comprising international experts who will participate in the project, offering their support and experience to help increase the value of the results obtained.

The project is financed by the technological fund of Feder Innterconecta Andalucía 2013 which in turn receives funding from the European Union Regional Development Fund and the government via the CDTI (the Centre for Industrial Technological Development) and the Andalusian regional government.